Synopsis / Summary / Plot
Some of the Avengers 20XX team have come back in time to stop the alien wizard Moridun from a previous universe from destroying this universe in their future. Only Captain America (Danielle Cage), Collapsar (a size-changing member of the Nova Corps), Iron Mariner (an Atlantean Iron Man), King Hulk (Teddy Altman) and Marvel Woman made it through the portal. Others were killed last issue, and Madame Natasha stayed behind to control the portal.
Last issue Sunspot's Avengers team were testing their own time portal called Avenger Four, and it was this that allowed the future Avengers to get through a firewall that prevented time travel from their future.
In #3-4 our team fought and defeated Moridun. But now future Cap tells them that Moridun planted a seed in Wiccan (Billy Kaplan) and turned him into Demiurge, who will doom the future. Iron Mariner demands that the current Avengers hand Kaplan over to them.
At this point Demiurge ports in with Hawkeye, Hulkling (the current Teddy Altman), Power Man and White Tiger. He uses magic to crash IM's armour. Cap sends Collapsar in subatomic mode into the armour to sort it out before the water-breathing Atlantean suffocates.
Danielle hurls her shield-drone at Demiurge while King Hulk begs her not to harm the earlier incarnation of his husband Billy. He needn't have worried because Teddy melts the shield. But then Marvel Woman blasts him with anti-matter. While recounting some history of how the original Captain America and his shield were atomised on Zero Day, Danielle Cage proves she doesn't need her shield to be an effective fighter.
Songbird tries to stop the fighting with a sound-blast. But Marvel Woman declares herself immune because Melissa is her mother, before firing back at 'Mom'. White Tiger channels her Tiger God to attack MW, only to be felled by a blast from the recovered Iron Mariner.
Meanwhile Hulkling shields Demiurge from further harm. But he's already healing, and reveals his evil Moridun nature with a declaration of intent to destroy everything. Future King Hulk tries to convince and console his past self. But even though he now believes that Billy has been taken over by Moridun, Hulkling won't let him do anything to his lover.
Instead Teddy gets through to the Billy still inside Demiurge. This wakes Billy's spirit from the trance Moridun had him in. Moridun does an internal rant about destroying this universe. And he can keep Kaplan helpless by filling his mind with bad thoughts and self-doubt. But Billy says all humans live with thoughts like that all the time, and he's long ago learnt to overcome them. And he starts to fight back.
On the outside the heroes see Demiurge in conflict. Cap Danielle thinks this is the time to strike but King Hulk holds her back. Wiccan casts out Moridun, who emerges from his mouth like a small squid. Collapsar's Worldmind confirms that Wiccan is completely free from the alien wizard. And Hulkling kisses the bad taste out of Billy's mouth.
The Avengers 20XX fade away as the future they came from vanishes (or becomes an alternate). We see the new future where Billy and Teddy are an old married couple with a child called Katie.